The Hourglass Finally Tipped the Other Way
by AnHeiressofaSOLDIER
Summary: It's after KHII and the boys have finally returned home to Kairi. She should be happier than ever, but it's hard to remain that way when Selphie is acting out of character, seems to be being influenced by Darkness, and has ended up in jail, among other things. With all of this, it looks like Kairi's finally getting the adventure she'd always dreamed of, but is it worth it? SoKai.


**The Hourglass Finally Tipped the Other Way**

**Chapter One**

It was a lovely day out on the Islands, Kairi thought. The wind was blowing just the slightest bit, so that you felt like there was a gentle sort of grace touching you. The sun was in the sky just so, so that it painted everything in lovely baby blue and green hues.

But perhaps most importantly to the girl, was the fact that for once it wasn't sea spray gathering up to infiltrate her senses of smell and taste, but rather the lovely scent of cherry blossoms: something that was a true rarity in these parts.

Yes, Kairi concluded her earlier thought. It was most certainly a perfect day, and the squirrels that were preening their tails nearby, as they chattered away in a happy tone, seemed to think the same thing.

But... while all of this was true, and the Princess hadn't been able to encounter such a pleasant day in who knew how long, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with it somehow. She just didn't... she didn't know what.

Maybe... maybe she was just being silly, Kairi would have liked to venture. But without the presence of Selphie, she felt as though the world was a mighty stranger, and there was nothing in it for her to want to live there at all.

Kicking a few stray stones in front of her feet as she headed home, Kairi remembered with longing the time that Selphie had called her "Onee-chan", meaning sister (something that Kairi had first thought meant "grandmother", when she'd first misheard her), and she longed for the simple times where she could have felt embarrassed by a simple thing like that with Selphie, but that, too, had been stolen away from her.

And for that reason, she had to sigh.

...

"Hey, umm... Kairi?" Sora called her later-his voice still cracking in the same way it always did, even though he'd just come back from his second journey. "I'm sorry to hear that Selph was thrown in jail. That's a really odd occurrence, actually. But anyway, if there's anything I can do to help, be sure to let me know, okay?"

Well, that was good old Sora for you, Kairi reasoned, feeling a bit better, as she let her dearest friend's words wash over her.

And in deciding that she was going to try her hardest not to be miserable about everything, the redhead finally convinced herself to eat a few stray peas on her plate, whilst she relaxed in her room.

And with the way that the green little vegetables chased each other on the plate, Kairi got the sense that they were trying to tell her that if she didn't indulge on them first herself, they just might consume each other).

Only when she was finished eating, did she begin tidying up her room.

To be honest, Kairi thought that she probably looked ridiculous-standing there in her too big clothes, with a bandana on her head as she dusted.

She probably even looked like the stereotypical look that had been used to promote cleaning from the dawning of time, but it was what it was.

If cleaning her room would keep her mind off of Selphie-and that maybe the other girl had been lost to make up for her getting Sora and Riku back-she would happily take that.

Yep…

...

It wouldn't be until the next day that Kairi felt the faintest bit better and like her old self again.

It happened in the form of her getting a bit of yogurt out of her freezer, trying desperately to open up the thing and failing (and then wondering if maybe she should have gotten the _oh so_ easier to open Danimals instead), and finally getting it open, but having it explode all over her face in retaliation.

And well... though she _was_a princess and had a certain reputation to uphold, Kairi would have been lying if she said she hadn't dreamed before about something like this happening before.

She was a sucker for blueberries, after all, and if she could now merrily lick it all off her face with her tongue, like a certain baby named Jack-Jack she knew would have, things couldn't have been all bad, right?

So going along with that, Kairi polished off the yogurt that had gotten all over her, put some disinfectant on the counter where she'd gotten some of the icy dessert onto it, and tried not to feel too bad when she saw one of her neighbors come to deliver some mail to her, that must have been misdelivered to them by accident.

…Unfortunately they'd seen her just as she'd been getting the yogurt off of her face, and now seemed to think she'd been making weird faces at them, but her mood was still marginally better than it had been before.

It was the moment that Kairi was berating herself for being an idiot, as well as for her somewhat awful track record, that a person she really wanted to see made his presence known.

Kairi noticed him first, in seeing the bobbing of his spiking hair as he walked to her door.

And from far away, if you could only see the top of his head, his hair seemed to look like a dragon's scaled back!

Which was _so _cool, but in thinking that, Kairi once again found herself worrying that maybe she was too big a fangirl of Sora's, and that maybe Selphie's predicament was her fault. The good and the bad needed to stay in balance, right?

Maybe... maybe the multiverse had deemed her as much too happy, and had acted to make her suffer some?

With the strong love she felt for Sora, Kairi wouldn't have doubted such a thing. But deep down, she knew that there was more to life than just it revolving around Sora, so hopefully Selphie's issues had to be for something else.

And even though she loved dragons, she didn't love them because Sora's hair resembled them, but rather because she wanted to get tough like a dragon, so someone like Axel could never kidnap her again. That was progress and some proof that everything wasn't about him, right?

"Yo, Kairi. How's it going?" Sora asked the moment right after he'd ascended the stairs of her porch, and had walked through her open screen door.

At that, Kairi couldn't help but blink in surprise. She'd thought that he didn't like coming into her home unceremoniously anymore... Not with all the cigarette smoke from her adopted parents these days.

There had also been the time that he'd taken a board game home-which he'd thought Kairi's mother had given him, when she really hadn't, to consider.

But in any case, Kairi was glad that Sora was acting normally around her again. She'd missed things like this for too long now.

And besides, going into each other's homes unannounced was what being friends with Sora and Riku was all about, right? Kairi thought jokingly.

"Sora!" Kairi exclaimed excitedly, despite herself: sounding so much more natural and normal to her own ears now, than she had when she'd gone to hug him at The World That Never Was.

Charging to Sora at once, the Princess of Heart quickly wrapped her arms around the boy, and told him gratefully, "Thanks for coming to see me, and for being there with me through this Selphie thing. Your help is invaluable, Keyblade master, and I can't thank you enough for it. Seriously."

Well, that was interesting. It seemed as though her usual coy kind of speak had come back to her. And though Kairi was more than glad for such a thing, because that's who she was at the heart of it all, she worried that Sora might think she was being fake around him again-especially since he had their conversation from the previous night to fall back on.

But if Sora thought there was something bad or awkward about Kairi calling him a "Keyblade master", he didn't show it.

Instead, he seemed to puff up proudly at that, blush the slightest bit, and pull away from Kairi's embrace, but just so he could hold onto her hand alone.

Huh. Was he swearing fealty to her as her knight or something? If so, Kairi really didn't know how to feel about that, but his enthusiasm did lift her spirits up all the same.

"Don't worry, Kai. I mean, that's what friends are for! For Selphie too, y'know? I was never as close to her as you, or Tidus, or Wakka were, but this whole thing...

"Well, it's weird to me. If anyone was going to become jailbait out of our other friends, I thought for sure it would have been Tidus, but- But I'm ranting now, sorry.

"Also," Sora supplied as an after thought, as he put one finger into the air and looked towards his namesake, "Riku will be here shortly."

Well, that certainly made Kairi extremely happy. Since Riku had gotten back home, he'd taken up a boat building job that kept him pretty busy-so he could stay in shape for if the worst were to happen again-so to finally get to see that kid again would definitely be a god sent, Kairi thought.

But... maybe before she celebrated his coming over, she oughta hurry to make sure the blue ice cream she'd spilt was completely gone, Kairi thought: she didn't want to give Riku a bloated head, by him thinking she'd been trying to make an ice sculpture of him or anything like that, after all.

And she especially didn't want _Sora_ to think that, in the off-chance that a rivalry would start up between the boys again, if he did, Kairi internalized with a blush.

"You don't think..." Kairi began-barely even aware that she _was_ talking, as she gathered up a trash bin to push some of the remaining ice cream shards into. "You don't think that Selphie's being manipulated by someone, do you? Or what if this is the Darkness or the Heartless feeding her or something? If so, I'll never forgive myself. I mean, in your dream-"

_No, Kairi, you mustn't say such things_, she quickly scolded herself.

And gosh, was she an idiot. It was bad enough that things were a bit awkward between her and Sor lately, but now she had to be speaking the worst of the dream he'd told her about before everything had started?

And though it wasn't Sora's fault at all (though Kairi knew he'd think it was, if she told him what she'd been thinking), ever since she'd heard the words, 'The closer you get to the Light, the greater your shadow becomes', the Princess had been worried that it applied to her somehow.

She and the other Princesses of Heart were Light incarnate, so was it possible to think that she could cast a shadow onto Selphie, and that everything happening to her was her fault?

And more than that, what if the Darkness Sora and Riku had faced on their journeys was her own fault? What if-

"I... I don't _think_that would be happening..." Sora spoke uncertainly and carefully, as if he was weighing each word before saying it. Kairi narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "But I..."

"Hey, you guys, so... Miraculously enough, I found some crackers that are kinda shaped like files, but if you want _me_ to somehow _bake_ a cake, and put a file into one for Selphie to use, well... I hate to say it, but you're fresh out of luck, 'cuz I vote on being lazy today."

Sora and Kairi looked at Riku blankly for a few moments, before they looked at each other and both burst out laughing.

And just like that, Kairi felt her spirits lifting even moreso. And it was all thanks to the help of her boys.

Riku, however, was left in the dark, it seemed, looking at each of his friend's questioningly, and wondering just what he'd missed.

...

"This grilled cheese sandwich is to die for," Sora said a little while later, when the three friends were sitting on Kairi's floor (careful to steer clear of Kairi's parents for Sora's sake, after having accidentally stolen that game before) and sharing food that they had each made.

It had always been like this, Kairi mused. She'd make some simple but tasty type of cuisine, like the sandwich with three different cheeses that she'd just made.

And Riku, who had to be good at everything, would make something ridiculous, like Baked Alaska.

And Sora..., who couldn't cook to save his life, would bring over ingredients for a salad, but would have Kairi make it.

Then, the three would take turns passing the plate and sharing the awe-inspiring things they'd made for the day.

It was really a good time, Kairi reflected, as she leaned back on her hands (her palms annoyingly getting caught on one of the loose screws amidst the hardwood floor) and tilted her head up towards the ceiling.

The only thing that was missing, of course, was the types of dishes that their other three friends would bring with them to a Potluck, but they couldn't do that now. Not now that Selphie was a conflicted felon. And because of what had happened to Selphie, Tidus and Wakka weren't in much of a partying mood.

And Riku, who as always caught on to the melancholy shift in tone before Sora ever could, sent Kairi an apologetic smile, and then said, "Uhh, sorry, Kairi. I guess... maybe we shouldn't be doing this, huh? Or at the very least, we shouldn't be acting like everything's okay. I mean... things are definitely _not_ at their best right now with Selphie.

"And beyond that... I even sorta miss the meals that I had with Mickey, and I bet Sora misses the ones he shared with Donald and Goofy. And that's not even accounting for the meals you had to face without the both of us for a year.

"So, if you don't want to honor this tradition until you're feeling a bit more up to it, I completely understand, and we can stop now, if you want."

Sora, who had a spoon full of soup half-way up to his mouth (where he'd even gotten soup during all of this, Kairi didn't want to know), was quick to nod his head in the affirmative to Riku's words.

He held Kairi's eyes for a strong moment, telling her through their locked gaze that he, too, was sorry for being insensitive. And then, reluctantly and gently, he filed over to the dish washer that Kairi had in her room, and put his tray and utensils there.

"No, guys. It's mostly fine, really," Kairi told both of her friends-putting the realist smile onto her face that she could muster at that moment. She was even about to go get the salad dish that Sora had just put aside to give it back to him, but her emotions ended up stopping her.

Running a hand over her face and trying her best not to sob, the redhead cried out, "I just don't get any of this, y'know? The idea that Selphie would get into trouble with the law is so ludicrous that I wanna laugh about it all, and yet here we are, anyway.

"How did this happen?" Kairi asked the last part, as she fixed her hurt expression onto Sora-unknowingly echoing what he had said a year earlier to Leon for his friends' sake, right after their Island had fallen.

"Does anyone have any idea on the hows?" Kairi tried again. "Because right now, I've got nothin'."

Okay, so that context wasn't _completely_ true. Kairi thankfully had her Sora and Riku back. And with them, she knew she could weather any storm.

And she was so, so grateful and elated for all of that, but… she was still at a loss about things.

"Hmm, I wonder-" Sora began absently, as he moved to sit in the same sort of position that Kairi herself was-the red and white striped shirt he was wearing riding up the slightest bit with that motion, for which Kairi's cheeks burnt scarlet.

Leaning up just far enough so that he could grab the little toy airplane that had littered Kairi's desk, Sora began playing with the propeller on it (much to Riku and Kairi's own confusion; they shared a glance at each other for that exact reason), and then seemed to begin stating an epiphany.

"Kai, you said that Selphie got in trouble for getting someone to jump into some chemicals that some company had outside, right? Well, here's my question to that: did the ledge that the girl jumped from look anything like a plane propeller? If so, I bet they were at Violin Industries, in which case... I dunno know if Selphie can really be blamed for any of this. That place had made people's heads foggy before, right?"

To be honest, Kairi could have kissed Sora right about then. She even probably would have, if Riku hadn't been there.

His solution was just so obvious, that Kairi couldn't figure out why she hadn't figured it out for herself. Maybe because her mind didn't work a mile a minute like Sora's own ADD one?

"Oh my gosh. Sora, you're a genius!" Kairi exclaimed, as she hastily moved closer to him to pull the little figure out of his hands-their fingers brushing the slightest bit as she did so, for which both teens blushed.

And then, she handed the model to Riku, who was looking at both of his friends quizzically just then.

"Rik, I hate to ask you this, since I know your Darkness powers have lessened since our return from The World That Never Was, but do you think you can see if the propellers here have any Darkness in them? If so, it stands to reason that the actual place-where their ledge above the chemicals is made out of this same content-most definitely has more than a few people dabbling in the powers of Darkness there.

"The question, though-if there is Darkness at Violin Industries and it latched onto Selphie there-is how are we going to prove to the Island that she's innocent and acting out of her contro-

"Wait. What's with those looks on you two's faces? Sora? Riku? Care to tell me what's going on here?

_Even though I all ready know what you might be getting at: that maybe Selphie_isn't _innocent, and has gone truly evil, like many of the threats to the multiverse that you two put down were..._

"It's just," Riku responded, as Kairi had known he would, as she knew Sora still carried guilt about many of the things he'd done-like not being able to save Ansem the Wise-whereas Riku had deemed a lot of it as a necessity.

"If she's acting like herself, then she's probably too far gone, which means this was her choice, Kai. If she's acting weird, zombie-like or possessed, though, there still might be a chance. But from what I've personally heard so far, I don't know if that's the case. Selphie always was... Well, how do I put it mildly? Ambitious, to say the least."

It took all of the willpower that Kairi had within herself not to lash out at Riku then, or to do or say something that she knew she'd regret.

Deep down, she of course knew that he had some good points, was being cautious, and wanted to help Selphie as much as she did. But at the same time... Kairi found that she was angry at Riku's advice.

In fact, she might have even been angry for the first time ever, since she was a Princess of Heart and all and therefore anger wasn't an emotion she could usually reach.

But who was Riku to come and tell her how to live her life, when he'd been out of it for a year, when he probably could have stopped by to tell her how things were going just once?

Selphie had been there for Kairi when no one else had been, and Riku wasn't going to convince her to give up on that friendship, she decided then and there. He just wasn't.

"Everything will be fine, Kairi," Sora-ever the peace maker, most of the time-was quick to reassure his best friend, as he smiled radiantly at her and placed his arms behind his head.

Sora... he really was the best friend that she could have ever asked for, Kairi multitasked, through a part of her thinking that he had to be right (and that she would do her best to help Selph), while a Darkness that was blooming in her seemed to tell her to flail Riku alive for what he'd said.

Could it have been that the Darkness had gotten to her through Xenahort's schemes, like it had for Sora and Riku? Or-

"And anyway," Sora continued on, thankfully disrupting Kairi's troubled thoughts. "We at least owe it to our friends to help out. Especially to Tidus and Wakka, I mean, they're like the younger versions of us, I feel. Selphie, too.

"Welllll, Wakka's actually older than all of us, and _our_ big brother figure, but what I'm _trying_to say, is that they helped everyone out when the Island was still reforming and getting back to normal, right? They did what me and Riku shoulda been here to do but weren't. So, we definitely owe them for that, and for being this Island's true Light in that sense...

"Especially since I feel like they might have to do again; I also think that they might have big destinies like we do... Oh, sorry, Kairi. I didn't mean to talk about last year so callously. I know it wasn't easy for you."

"No, no. It's fine, and I understand, really…" Kairi responded with words and mannerisms much like Naminé's, which was fitting, seeing as how Sora's last sentence seemed to have been more of Roxas talking to her, rather than Sora himself.

"…But as much as I hate to say it, I don't think those three are as connected to us as we might want. If Selphie could really lose herself in such a way... Well, _we_ all know we'd never get thrown in jail for example, right?"

And to that, and the underlying meaning behind Kairi's words, there was nothing that the trio could do but let the oppressing atmosphere close in around them.

...

It occurred to Kairi later that night, when she should have been sleeping but couldn't at all, that she was going to have to learn how to use a weapon in the coming days.

She didn't know how or why she was thinking such things exactly, but she did know it to be true.

Maybe her Princess of Heart powers-that she could only slightly control-were speaking to her about something?

And in any case, Kairi knew that if she really was going to bail Selphie out of the slammer-or whatever it was she planned to do-she was going to need to have something that allowed her to do so.

And so far, despite her best efforts to the contrary, Destiny's Embrace hadn't yet returned to the Princess, so the Keyblade was certainly out of the picture.

What to do, then?

Getting out of bed before she even consciously realized she was doing so, or what she was planning, Kairi tied her gray robe tighter about her, put on her bunny slippers, and was instantly out the door.

It would only be later that she'd realize she must have been in a trance at the time-something that wasn't unlike the state she'd been in the first day that Darkness had fallen onto the Islands.

But despite all of that, and how cautious she knew she should have been being, here she was: getting on one of the horses from her parents' stable, and heading out into the forest deep, deep into the night.

...

Contrary to popular belief, it actually could get quite cold on a tropical island. So when Kairi found herself standing outside an outcrop of trees on the center Isle (that looked more like ugly weeds to her than anything else), Kairi had to wonder just what the heck she'd been thinking, in leaving the house in such a chilly attire.

Not only had she apparently lost her mind, but also all of her survival instincts? Man, was she a basket case.

And this- this was not good at all, Kairi acknowledged as she whipped her head from side to side, surveying the area around her.

And what would- what would Sora say or do if he saw her now? It wasn't like she'd recently gotten kidnapped or anything like that, Kairi thought to herself sarcastically.

Too late did the Princess realize that it was all most likely a trap, and that maybe she'd just undergone the type of thing that Selphie had gone through herself recently: neither thing being particularly good in the slightest.

And yet- even though Kairi knew she should have been terrified out of her mind, for having gone out to a strange part of the Island late at night like this, she found that she was oddly calm about it all.

Maybe she was finally going through her Awakening?

Or- maybe this was some sort of magical test? Yen Sid did such things, apparently, and Kairi thought that Naminé had once dreamed of training under the Sorcerer, so-

"Kairi, there you are!" The would-be-Keyblade-wielder didn't even have time to react when suddenly, a shadow came out of the darkness and wrapped her in its embrace.

She felt as though- felt as though this must have happened before. Kairi thought, as she whirled around in the daunting darkness-looking for something akin to red eyes.

But... she'd only ever left her home a few short times, right? And in those times, Kairi knew she'd never had an encounter like this, to make her feel all nostalgic...

Unless it had happened before she was four, and she just couldn't remember it.

Like right now, she truly felt that she must have been forgetting something without realizing it.

After all, every instinct in Kairi's body told her that it, by all accounts, should have been Selphie who was holding onto her like this-as the voice she'd heard, the girl's appearance, and even the embrace she was in all reminded her of her estranged friend.

But instead of Selphie, it seemed to be someone from Kairi's past that she hadn't thought about in a very long time.

And as Kairi reluctantly pushed the mysterious girl away from her, and reached to unhook the ribbon from her robe: so that she could use it as a weapon if she needed to, she realized, startled, that it really was...

"Yonah?!" Kairi choked out in an emotional stutter-the type of sound she usually only reserved for Sora and Riku, when they'd done something to warrant so much emotion from her. "I thought you- I thought you were sick!"

In truth, Kairi had meant to tell her childhood friend-someone she'd met before she'd even met Sora and Riku, amazingly enough-that she thought she'd died, and that _that_ was why she hadn't been there to check up on her at all in so many years, but the words died in her throat.

And probably for a good reason, too; it wasn't within a Princess of Heart's mantle to be cruel like that. "I thought-" Kairi forced out, as she grappled with the arms she'd just pushed away from herself, as she now _desperately_wanted them around her again. "I thought there was no cure for your disease...

"But… that doesn't matter right now. What are you _doing_ here, and now of all times? Are you- are you the one who called me here?" _Like how I called out to Sora's heart many times during his first journey_, Kairi internalized. "I guess… I'm just a bit confused about what's going on."

And I'm so _very surprised that a moment ago, when you spoke my name, it wasn't in the sickly tone that you used to use so long ago..._

"I'm here," Yonah finally answered, with a bizarre tenor to her voice that made Kairi think that maybe she _was_ still in a trance, and that maybe this all was just a dream she was having.

"I'm here because Sora met another 'Yuna' during his adventure, and as you and he are the same, it's time that you pick up some of the slack and face some of your own enigmas."

Well, if that wasn't creepy, Kairi didn't know what was.

And even odder, she noticed: now that she'd momentarily taken her eyes off of Yonah, and was now looking back towards the forest she'd been about to go into, was that there were pools of water that looked exactly like the physical manifestation of the "poison" command Sora had once tried to learn through Merlin, but had given up on, since corroding people's lungs wasn't in his nature.

Yeah... to say that Kairi was glad she hadn't gone in there now would have been an understatement.

And now that the ginger was _definitely_ certain this whole thing was some sort of trap, she wanted to get as far away from the danger as possible.

The question, though, was would she take the ghostly Yonah with her or not? She sensed that her former friend _did_ want to lead her to her own downfall, and yet…

Kairi found that she'd never be able to forgive herself, if she escaped without the formerly sickly girl.

However, as fear laced up her veins, when she heard an owl hooting at her too close for comfort, Kairi wondered if she'd really end up doing the right thing. But in the end, she did.

Hoisting Yonah over her shoulder before the girl could move or say anything else threatening, Kairi began running back in the way she'd come from-desperate for her horse, Apple, to be there and to whisk them away.

And as she ran, and Yonah began banging on Kairi's back in protest, Kairi became aware of quite a few things:

One, that she probably should have been binding the younger girl's hands together to stop her.

Two, that Selphie wasn't responsible for whatever she'd gotten in trouble for-something evil was for sure at work here, messing with her and Yonah both.

And three, that that poisonous swamp had to be connected to the serum that "Selphie's" victim had jumped into; she just wasn't sure how.

And as for Yonah... Kairi had no idea how she was still alive and had decided to turn up now, but she was glad for it all the same…

Even if she was wearing her brother, Nier's, cloak, which didn't seem to bode well to Kairi at all.

But just what did that-as well as everything else she'd just discovered-have to do with her, Sora, and Riku?

Kairi- she'd never been sure of her place in the destinies before, but this just made her even more confused about everything.

And now, on top of everything else, Kairi knew that was adding "kidnapper" to her list of admirable traits.

Great. Just great.

As if she hadn't had enough problems before all of this...

...

"Yonah?" Sora echoed back to Kairi, when she called him on her rotary phone again as soon as she got a home-something that was a new and valuable technology for the Island, that some genius had only recently gotten working (though it had nothing on some of the stuff she and the boys had seen in other worlds, she knew now).

"As in the girl I always felt I stole the title of being your best friend from?

"…Sorry, but... didn't you get mad at her for a silly reason, and then started hanging around me and Riku all the time after that or something?"

Yes, that was exactly what had happened, Kairi thought in mild surprise. How interesting that Sora still remembered it... she wondered just what that meant; Sora, after all, wasn't one to usually want to remember _bad_ friendship things like that.

"Yes, Sora. _That_ Yonah…. I don't want to talk semantics with you right now though, okay? Can you just come over?

"I think- I think she might be tied to what's happening with Selphie. And even worse... I kind of kidnapped her, with Apple's help, but she didn't protest!

"Even so, I know I'm not off to a good start with anything right now, so... please come help me, Keyblade master… And yes: I actually mean that term in a flattering way this time."

Kairi didn't know it then, but she'd very soon be getting herself into an awesome mess. And "not off to a great start", as she'd put it, wouldn't even begin to cover it.

**Hey, Princess-Xion. How are you, honey?:) I really hope you, your mom, and family are doing well. You've all been in my prayers.**

**Anyway, this is something that I wrote for you, since you've been so, so good to me with everything lately-above and beyond the call of duty, really, and I can't thank you ENOUGH for it-so I hope you enjoyed the first part of this multi-chapter fic:)**

**As I hope you can tell, this story takes place right after KHII, when Sora and Riku have returned to the Islands and everything is normal again for a while. **

**Basically, this is going to be a SoKai and Kairi-centric piece. I'm also trying really hard to keep it canon and believable (which is why Kairi won't be using her Keyblade here at all, as that isn't brought up again until Dream Drop Distance); so here's hoping I succeed in that.**

**Another thing I tried to do with this story is develop the bond between the Paopu Trio more with Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka, which is something I wished that other stories did, since they ARE all friends, y'know? **

**I also tried to make this story not all about SoKai, even though it IS a SoKai story. I've noticed a lot of people on here make romance fics too much about that factor (myself included), when there's more to life than just that, so in this… Kairi's friendships with Selphie and Yonah (who's from the video game by Square Enix, entitled "NIER", that I'm using the Japanese version of) are the driving force. I mean, everyone wants more female interaction in this series, right?:D**

**And I think the Selphie bit works pretty well, because Kai did seem to lean on her a bit after KHI, but as for the Yonah stuff… Well, I'm obviously making that up, but here's hoping it's not being done too disastrously:)**

**At the heart of it, this is a mystery story where Kairi gets to go on her own mini-adventure with the boys, before she finds the letter from Mickey in the epilogue of KHII. I hope that makes sense…**

**Hmm… What else did I mean to mention? Uhh… Selphie calling Kairi "Onee-chan" is canon to the Japanese version of KHII? Naminé wanting to train under Yen Sid is a reference to the awesome KH story "Those Without Hearts" by The Lionheartless? Selphie getting someone to jump into a pool of stuff is based on the beginning of "A Walk to Remember", if you were confused about what happened there?**

**Oh! Here's something important: I tried to keep life on the Island very rural and laidback here, as Nomura's noted before that Sora's like a country boy, there are no things like TVs on the Islands, etc. So in this story, rotary phones are the hottest new form of technology on the Island now (and probably the most advanced thing they have there at all), people get around on horses, and that type of thing:)**

**Anyway… I really hope you like this, Princess-Xion (especially since you yourself are such a fine writer, and all your stories are to die for to me). Hopefully I'll be able to finish this little fic for you soon.**

**Thank you SO much for everything again, hon, and I pray for the best for you and your family.**

**-bows-**

**-Shanna**


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